Introduction

Many thanks to those of you that were able to join us at the Connecting Changemaker events. For those that were not able to be there, we missed you! As we embark on an important year for Lead Health and Wellbeing Schools, this month’s newsletter contains important information about your role and the next steps for the Boys Move and Active in Mind CPD, as well as the reporting requirements.

Thank you for your engagement and commitment to improve the health and wellbeing of young people. We look forward to working with you to develop some exciting projects.

ACTIONS

Boys Move Dates

We have set up dates for the five virtual dates for the Boys Move CPD sessions that follow on from the face-to-face events we have held recently. For those that didn’t attend the Connecting Changemaker events, we have created a virtual set of sessions for you to attend.

Please make sure you book the dates in your diary based on the event you attended (Group 1 - London, Group 2 - Leeds, Group 3 - Worcester). If you didn’t attend one of the Connecting Changemaker events your dates are under Group 4 – Virtual.

Please note all of these sessions are after school from 3.30pm – 5.00pm so make sure whoever registers can make all dates.

You will receive event joining details and Zoom links for your group and dates as outlined above.

Boys Move Surveys

We would request for you to baseline survey, and follow-up with the cohort of boys that you plan to engage and work with through your Boys Move project. Our research and insight team will be tracking these surveys over the course of the next six months and developing a report covering staff feedback and pupil feedback. These surveys are incredibly important as we make the case for the future roll out of this programme.

Baseline Survey: https://wh1.snapsurveys.com/s.asp?k=161908073366

Follow-up Survey: https://wh1.snapsurveys.com/s.asp?k=161908074747

For those of you that couldn’t attend the face to face sessions, please use the QR code below for the staff baseline survey and please complete before you attend the first workshop on the 02 November.

UPDATES

Boys Move Teams

We will be adding you to the Boys Move Teams channel in the coming days where we will put you into the groups outlined above. This will be a place for you to revisit content from previous sessions, access support and resources from your colleagues and share challenges and ideas around the delivery of your project. Please accept this invitation when it arrives and please check junk mail on a regular basis.

Young People Stories

We want to capture stories about the impact of the Boys Move CPD on the boys you are working with. The stories will focus on specific individuals in your targeted cohort and bring to life the challenges, impact and emotion of the project. Please use the template provided and send back to us at either [email protected] or [email protected].

STORIES

The Big Answer – September saw the results of the Children’s Commissioner’s Big Ask; over ½ million English children responded to the survey and gave remarkably consistent responses regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, income and location. The report makes recommendations across 6 areas; families, children and community, health and wellbeing, schools, work and children in care.

READ THE REPORT

Child Poverty and Inequality - Poverty and inequality are never out of the news and September saw the publication of a number of reports showing the worsening situation. The Nuffield Foundation has found that families with at least one child under five are facing the steepest rise in poverty. Child poverty rates have fluctuated since 2000 but there has been a sustained increase since 2013, largely due to changes to the benefits system and the growth of the private rental market.

READ THE REPORT

Mental Health; Everything is Worse - NHS Digital released the results of a follow-up survey comparing the mental health of English children in 2021 to an earlier survey in 2017. Rates of probable mental disorders have increased: from 1 in 9 children in 2017 to 1 in 6 children in 2021.

READ MORE HERE

School-anxiety cases are on the increase too.

READ MORE

In September a Parliamentary POSTnote was published about the effect of the pandemic on children’s mental health.

READ THE NOTE

The benefits of 5-a-day - News came in September that UK children with healthy diets have better mental health. Data collected from nearly 11,000 children in Norwich was analysed by researchers who found that higher combined fruit and vegetable intake was significantly associated with higher mental health scores.

READ REPORT